Method of signaling.



No. 680,854. 'Patented Aug. 2U, |90I.l

'FL F. FUSTEH.

METHOD 0F SIGNALIWG.

(Application filed Mar. 15. 1901.) (N o M o d e Y 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

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METHOD F SIGNLHNIG (Application med Mar. i5. 1901.) 3 Sheets*$heet 2.

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' No. 680.854. Patented Aug. 20, |90l.

B. F. FOSTER. METHOD OFSIGNALING.

(Applicati n led Mar. 15, 1901.)

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ROBERT FREDERICK FOSTER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HAMILTON-FOSTER FOG-SIGNAL COMPANY, OF RIDGEFIEIJD,

CONNECTICUT.

METHOD OF SlGNALlNG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,854, dated August 20, 1901. Original application filed February l, 1901, Serial No. 45,618. Divided and this application filed March 15, 1901. Serial T0 @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT FREDERICK FOSTER, a subject of the King of Great Britain,residing at Brooklyn, Kings county, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Signaling, of which the following is a specification.

In Letters Patent No. 617,856, issued to me for a method and apparatus for signaling, I provided means whereby signals of differcnt characters corresponding with different points of the compass were projected through a megaphone or other suitable sound-director while the latter was traveling opposite such points. The method of said Letters Patent has proved in practical operation to be effective and has been adopted and used at different points. It has been found desirable, however, to operate much more rapidly than was at rst contemplated, and as a result it was found that the time between the diderent signals in case of rapid operation would be shortened and with a confusion of signals given at adjacent points. Further, in the apparatus of said patent the megaphone would travel through a comparatively-extended arc during the time between giving the iirst part and the end of a signal, with the result that the sound-waves would be projected on different lines between different angles during the sounding of a signal, so that during such sounding there would be such variations in sounds as to lead to a misapprehension of the signal given. I have therefore devised a method whereby no such confusion can occur, and one form of apparatus for carrying it out is fully set forth hereinafter andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which* Figure l is a perspective elevation of the apparatus, the trumpets removed. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation, one trumpet shown in place. Fig. 3 is a plan view. Fig. i is an enlarged elevation of the valve-operatin g de- Vices.

The frame 7c of the apparatus is suitably constructed to support the operating parts and includes a sound-director j, which is a curved tube internally expanded toward the outer end and which may be rotated about a (No model.)

vertical axis, so as to bring its mouth successively opposite the inner ends of a series of radially disposed trumpets m. The said trumpets extend at their inner ends into sockets in brackets 27, attached to or forming a part of the frame 7e, and below the lower end of the rotatable sound-director j and concentric therewith is the casing of the siren or other sound-producer h, which, in case a fluid is used to operate the sounder, communicates with a source of fluid-supply through a pipe b, provided with a controlling-valve of any suitable character. In the construction indicated in the drawings there is a rocking valve-stem 9, provided with an arm 19, swinging independently of the stem in one direction and acted on in the other to rock the stem by teeth 29 on the signal-plate g.

As in my former apparatus, the signals sounded indicate the dierent points of the compass, and in the construction shown they are given by properly arranging the projections 29 on the signal-plate so as to act to rock the shaft 9 in one direction to admit iiuid to the sounder, while an arm 20, with a weight 30, swings it in the opposite direction until it makes contact with a stop 21.

Instead of sending the sounds indicating different points of the compass in different directions during the sounding of each .signal I project all the sounds of each signal in one direction. Various different appliances'may be employed for securing this result. As shown, I use two gears 25 26, similar to a Geneva stop, the gear 26 rotating continuously and turning the gear 25 step by step, whereby after each movement of the sounddirector bringing its mouth opposite a new station it is arrested and locked in position for the time needed to completely sound the signal and is then rapidly rotated to bring it to its next position. It will be seen that each signal is thus directed unvaryingly toward its proper compass-point during the time that it is being sounded, so that the direction in which the sounds are projected in respect to the hearer in giving any signal does not alter, and no part of the signal is liable to be at tributed to a different signal.

The signal-plate g may be moved step by step or continuously,the latter being preferable and in the construction shown being effected by means of a pinion 3l on the shaft 33, carrying the driver-gear 2G, said pinion 3l engaging teeth 28 on the plate g, which thus rotates continuously with the shaft 33, the latter being driven from any suitable source of motion.

By the method described I am enabled to clearly separate the signals from each other2 so that no confusion can result.

I do not here claim the apparatus herein set forth, it being the subject-matter of a separate application led February l, 1901, Serial No. 45,618, of which this is a division.

Without limiting myself to the precise construction and arrangement of parts shown and described, I claim as my invention* The method substantially as set forth of signaling to indicate the direction to which a signal is projected, the same consisting in projecting sound-Waves Varying in character according to the points of the compass directly and unvaryingly toward each compass-point during the sounding of each signal.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT FREDERICK FOSTER.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. GRoss, CHARLES E. FOSTER. 

